Aquatic exercise weight

ABSTRACT

An aquatic exercise device for use by an exerciser standing in a natural or man-made body of water. The device includes containers that fill with water when immersed and which have drainage openings formed in them so that they drain when lifted out of the body of water. The exercise device may include a single container that is lifted from the body of water by a pulley and cable mechanism, or it may include a single container connected to a rigid bar, mid-length of the bar, or it may be provided in the form of a barbell or a dumbbell having water containers at opposite ends of a rigid bar. In all embodiments, the flow rate of water draining from the container or containers may be adjusted to a flow rate selected by the exerciser. In the barbell, dumbbell, and central container embodiments, the containers are rotatably and eccentrically mounted with respect to an elongate or short or medium length bar, respectively, so that they invert when initially immersed and return to their repose position when lifted from the body of water, aligning the drain holes of the containers in their respective proper positions so that the containers drain at the same rate when lifted out of the water. The size, number and location of the fill and drainage openings may be varied. In all embodiments, the rigid bar is hollow and buoyant.

This application claims the Benefit of provisional application No.60/024,267, filed Aug. 21, 1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates, generally, to weight-lifting equipment. Moreparticularly, it relates to weight-lifting equipment adapted for use inbodies of water.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Conventional weight-lifting equipment includes dumbbells and barbellsmade of iron or other heavy material. Complex machines have also beendeveloped to provide an even wider variety of weight-lifting exercises.All of these devices, however, are intended for use on dry land.Moreover, the weight being lifted remains constant throughout theduration of the exercise. As a result, weight lifters often drop orthrow the weights down at the completion of a particularly strenuousexercise. Such practice is unsafe and can lead to serious injury.Moreover, such practice requires that the weight-lifting take place onspecial flooring.

Some inventors have developed exercise devices for use under water. Forexample, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,657 to Macedo and U.S. Pat. Nos.4,311,306, 4,458,896 and 4,819,951 to Solloway. However, each of thesedevices is displaced under water so that the exerciser's muscles arestrengthened by moving against the resistance of the water; none ofthese devices are lifted out of the water. Thus, they cannot be usedlike conventional weights in exercises such as overhead pressing, forexample.

What is needed, then, are exercise devices that can be used in water insubstantially the same way they would be used on dry land. However, theneeded devices should be safe, i.e., they should remove the need for anexerciser to throw down a heavy weight at the completion of an exercise.

In view of the art considered as a whole at the time the presentinvention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill inthis art how the needed improvements could be provided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The longstanding but heretofore unfulfilled need for an apparatus thatovercomes the limitations of the prior art is now met by a new, useful,and nonobvious invention. In a first embodiment, the present inventionincludes a rigid bar of predetermined extent and a container meansincluding a first container rotatably attached to a first end of therigid bar and a second container rotatably attached to a second end ofthe rigid bar. Suitable means are provided for eccentrically attachingthe first and second containers to the first and second opposite ends,respectively, so that the containers assume their respective positionsof equilibrium when in repose; the center of gravity of each containeris below the rigid bar.

The novel stucture further includes a first aperture means formed ineach of the containers for admitting water thereinto when the containersare immersed in a body of water and a second aperture means formed ineach container for draining water therefrom when the containers arelifted from the body of water.

In this way, the containers are at least partially filled when immersedin a body of water for a predetermined period of time, and water in thecontainers is drained therefrom when the containers are lifted from thebody of water so that the weight of the exercise device, upon beinglifted from the water, diminishes over time.

Significantly, the weight of the novel device is at a maximum at themoment it is separated from the water surface so that maximum trainingbenefits are achieved by the exerciser at the beginning of theweight-lifting procedure. The weight of the novel device is at a minimumafter it has been held out of the water for a length of time sufficientto allow complete drainage of water from the containers. Thus, theexerciser can lower the device comfortably and safely. If the exerciserprefers to simply drop the device or throw it down after the containershave been emptied, no harm is done.

The means for eccentrically attaching each container to the rigid barincludes, in a first embodiment, an eccentric bore formed in each of thecontainers so that the rigid bar passes through the containers inparallel but offset relation to a centerline of the containers. Each ofthe eccentric bores has a diameter sufficient to rotatably receive therigid bar therethrough. In a second embodiment, the eccentricity isachieved by hanging the containers from the rigid bar with a pluralityof longitudinally-spaced apart clamps. In a third embodiment, thecontainers are provided in the form of open-topped buckets, i.e., theopen top of the buckets performs the function of the water-admittingaperture of the first two embodiments.

Additional embodiments add features such as means for adjusting thedrainage flow rate, including means for stopping all drainage if theexerciser desires the novel structure to emulate a conventional weight.Still further embodiments eschew the use of a rigid bar of the typefound in barbells and dumbbells, and employ a pulley and cable apparatusinstead for lifting a single container out of the water.

In the rigid bar embodiments, a travel limiting or barrier means forpreventing linear travel of the containers along the extent of the rigidbar is provided.

It is a primary object of this invention to promote physical fitness byproviding hollow exercise weights in the form of hollow containers thatare adapted to readily fill with water when immersed in a body of waterand to discharge water when lifted from said body of water so that anexerciser may allow all or any percentage of the water to drain outprior to lowering the device.

A related object is to provide a safety-promoting exercise device thatavoids the shortcomings of prior art weight-lifting devices that requirean exerciser to lower the same amount of weight that was lifted.

Still another object is to provide an aquatic exercise device thatenables the exerciser to control the rate of drainage flow from thedevice across a wide range of flow rates, including no drainage flow atall when it is desired to simulate prior art exercise devices.

Another object is to enable an exerciser to control the weight of thedevice to be lifted by the simple expedient of controlling the amount oftime the novel device is immersed or by not fully immersing thecontainers in the body of water.

Yet another object is to provide an easy-to-use aquatic exercise devicethat is economical to manufacture and thus affordable by consumers.

These and other important objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will become apparent as this description proceeds.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a first embodiment of theinvention when not immersed in water;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a second embodiment when notimmersed in water;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a third embodiment when notimmersed in water;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the first embodiment of theinvention when immersed in water;

FIG. 5A is an end elevational view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 5B is a side elevational view taken along line 5B--5B in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a fourth embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a fifth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, it will there be seen that a first exemplaryembodiment of the invention is denoted as a whole by the referencenumeral 10.

Barbell assembly 10 includes an elongate rigid bar 12, which ispreferably hollow to enhance its buoyancy, and a pair of hollowcontainer members, collectively denoted 14, mounted on said bar at itsopposite ends. Imperforate caps 11 keep water out of the interior of bar12; the floatability of bar 12 is a safety and a utilitarian feature.

In this first embodiment, each container 14 is impaled by elongate bar12 at a point eccentric to the horizontal centerline of each container.Accordingly, when assembly 10 is held above water, containers 14 willhang from barbell 12 in their equilibrium or repose position asdepicted, i.e., their center of gravity will be below rigid bar 12. Theapertures formed in each container to admit rigid bar 12 thereinto havea diameter only slightly greater than the external diameter of bar 12 sothat said containers are free to rotate with respect to bar 12. Rigidbar 12 may be of solid or hollow construction. Preferably, said rigidbar and the containers 14, 14 are formed of a high impact plastic.

The eccentric mounting of the containers ensures that the drain holes ofboth containers will be aligned with one another when device 10 islifted clear of the water, thereby ensuring that both containers willdrain at the same rate.

For reference purposes, the part of each container having the shortestradius from bar 12 to the periphery of the container will be referred toas the short side, and the part having the longest radius will bereferred to as the long side. Thus, it can be said that in FIG. 1, theshort side of each container is positioned above the long side thereofwhether containers 14 are empty, partially filled, or completely filledwith water, i.e., due to the rotatable, eccentric mounting of thecontainers to the rigid bar, they will hang freely as depicted when notimmersed in water and will maintain said position when rigid bar 12 isrotated about its longitudinal axis during a weight-lifting procedure.

A water-admitting or entrance aperture 16, 16 is formed in eachcontainer 14, 14 at a preselected location on its short side. At leastone drain opening or exit aperture 18, 18 is formed in said containerson their respective long sides. When assembly 10 is immersed in water,air within containers 14 will cause the containers to invert from theirrespective FIG. 1 positions, as depicted in FIG. 4. This is because thelong side thereof holds more air than the short side so the buoyancy ofthe long side is greater than the buoyancy of the short side whencontainers 14, 14 have been immersed. Water will thus enter eachcontainer 14, 14 through entrance apertures 16, 16 and air will exitthrough exit or drainage apertures 18, 18 in the form of bubbles.

Note that drainage apertures 18, 18 could be positioned on the inboardor outboard vertical sidewalls of containers 14, 14.

Advantageously, the exerciser can allow containers 14, 14 to be fullyfilled simply by waiting until the bubbles no longer exit from drainageapertures 18, 18; this provides maximum weight for any exercise thatfollows. Alternatively, the exerciser can hold containers 14, 14 underwater for preselected periods of time less than the time required toallow filling of said containers. This will allow the exerciser to filleach container to any degree desired. A beginning exerciser might decideto hold the containers under water for just one second so that only asmall percentage of the containers is filled. After becoming comfortablewith that weight, the exerciser can hold the containers under water fortwo seconds to increase their weight, and so on until the exerciser isready to work out with completely filled containers.

Alternatively, the exerciser can achieve partial filling simply by notsubmerging the containers completely, i.e., by only partially submergingentrance openings 14, 14.

There are many mechanical means that may be employed to preventcontainers 14, 14 from sliding with respect to the length of elongatebar 12. For example, barriers 20, 20, which are hollow pipes having aninternal diameter slightly less than the external diameter of rigid bar12, may be press fit onto said bar 12 on opposite sides (inboard andoutboard) of each container (with end caps 11 serving as the outboardbarriers). Alternatively, where bar 12 is a hollow bar, it may be cut sothat it terminates at the inboard end of a container, and a second orauxiliary rigid bar having an external diameter slightly greater thanthe internal diameter of bar 12 may be press fit thereinto so that iteffectively extends the length of bar 12. A cap 11 is then placed on theoutboard side of the container, it being understood that the shoulderformed by the reduction in diameter that occurs where the auxiliaryrigid bar meets bar 12 serves as a barrier means for said inboard sideof the container. In this particular design, the respective diameters ofthe bar-receiving apertures formed in the containers must be slightlygreater than the external diameter of the auxiliary rigid bar, and lessthan the external diameter of bar 12.

To avoid providing bar-receiving apertures in each container 14, 14, thecontainers may be suspendedly engaged to rigid bar 12 by a plurality ofclamps, collectively denoted 13, that are longitudinally spaced apartalong the length of bar 12 as depicted in FIG. 2. The containers willinvert from their depicted position when immersed, for the same reasonas provided in connection with the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Containers 14, 14 may be provided in the form of open-topped buckets 22,22, as depicted in FIG. 3. In this way, the open top of each bucketperforms the function of water-admitting apertures 16, 16 in the firsttwo embodiments. Accordingly, this embodiment has the advantage ofproviding a very-rapidly fillable container. Buckets are alsoinexpensive to manufacture. Moreover, since the contents of the bucketsare easily visible, this embodiment has the advantage of allowing theexerciser to visually ascertain the percentage of filling of thecontainers prior to beginning the lifting thereof from the water. Thecontainers 14, 14 of the first two embodiments could be made of a clearmaterial, such as an acrylic plastic, to enable visual inspection oftheir contents as well.

Reference numeral 21 in FIG. 3 denotes a foam covering for rigid bar 12that further enhances its buoyancy and which provides greater comfort tothe exerciser.

Exit or drainage apertures 18, 18 may be provided in many differentforms, as best understood in connection with FIGS. 5A and 5B. First ofall, there may be only one exit aperture per container 14, 14 or bucket22, 22, and said single exit aperture may be positioned on the bottom ofthe container or bucket or at any location on the side thereof.Secondly, there may be a plurality of exit apertures, including a singlebottom aperture and a single side aperture, a single bottom aperture anda plurality of side apertures, a plurality of side apertures and nobottom aperture, and so on. Thirdly, each exit aperture may be pluggedcompletely so that no water drains therefrom when the exerciser liftsthe apparatus from the water; this configuration would be used when theexerciser wants maximum weight resistance for each exercise. Fourthly,at least one or all of the exit apertures may be provided with means forcontrolling the flow of water therefrom.

These alternatives are depicted in composite form in FIGS. 5A and 5B forexplanatory purposes, it being understood that it would be unlikely toprovide these differing types of flow restrictors in a singleembodiment. In this particular example, the middle drain aperture isprovided with a plug 30 in the form of a cork that has a drain aperture32 formed in it. Use of such a plug would have the effect of providing asmaller drain aperture so that the water in containers 14, 14 woulddrain therefrom at a slower rate when the device 10 is lifted from thewater. A plug not having a drain aperture formed therein would of courseobviate the drainage hole entirely. The lowest drain aperture isprovided with a valve means 34, here depicted in the form of a spigot,so that the rate of drainage could be restricted across a complete rangeincluding fully restricted and fully unrestricted. The uppermost drainaperture is provided with a sliding gate valve 36 having handle 38 sothat it may be fully closed or opened to any degree desired by slidingsaid gate as indicated by double headed directional arrow 37. Numerousother valving means are within the scope of this invention.

It should be understood that elongate rigid bar 12 could also beprovided in short form so that the barbell would become a dumbbell. Inall other respects, dumbbells made in accordance with the teachings ofthis invention would be substantially the same as the barbells depictedherein.

It should also be understood that this invention is not restricted tobarbells and dummbells; it can be adapted to provide numerous forms ofweight-lifting devices. For example, the apparatus of FIG. 6 employsneither a barbell nor a dumbbell but is clearly within the scope of thisinvention. It includes a base member 40, mounted by suitable means to aswimming pool deck 42, for supporting a rotatably mounted pulley 44. Anelongate, flexible cable 46 engages a container 14 or a bucket 22 andextends over the pulley; its free end terminates in a rigidlinear-in-configuration handle 48 that is manipulated by an exerciserpositioned in the swimming pool. The container or bucket may be providedwith drainage holes 18 or adjustable flow rate drainage holes as in theearlier embodiments. In this way, an exercise is provided that exercisesmuscles other than those muscles exercised when using a barbell or adummbell. Numerous other variations of such exercise devices are withinthe scope of this invention. If a container or bucket has means foradmitting water when immersed and means for permitting drainage of saidwater when not immersed, then such device will infringe the claims thatfollow if incorporated into an exercise device used by exercisersstanding in a body of water such as a swimming pool or a natural body ofwater such as a river, lake, gulf, ocean or the like.

A final illustative embodiment is depicted in FIG. 7. In thisembodiment, a single weight member 14 is positioned mid-length of rigidbar 12 as depicted. Central weight member 14 may also be mounted in themanner depicted in FIG. 2. This provides a more compact exercise devicecompared to the devices depicted in FIGS. 1-4 in that the length ofrigid bar 12 may be much shorter; this enables two or more people toexercise in a swimming pool at the same time without interfering withone another. Weight member 14 of the FIG. 7 embodiment is preferablylarger and thus capable of holding more water than the weight membersused in the embodiments having two of said weight members. Note thatdrainage apertures 18 are preferably positioned on the outboard verticalsidewalls of container 14, but they may be positioned in any desiredfunctional location. The length of rigid bar 12 is between that of thebarbell and dumbbell embodiments.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those madeapparent from the foregoing description, are efficiently attained andsince certain changes may be made in the foregoing construction withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatters contained in the foregoing construction or shown in theaccompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described,

What is claimed is:
 1. An exercise device, comprising:a rigid bar ofpredetermined extent; container means including a first hollow containerrotatably attached to a first end of said rigid bar and a second hollowcontainer rotatably attached to a second end of said rigid bar; meansfor eccentrically attaching said first and second containers to saidfirst and second opposite ends for rotation of said containers aboutsaid rigid bar, respectively; a first aperture means formed on a firstsurface in each of said containers for admitting water thereinto whensaid containers are immersed in a body of water; a second aperture meansformed on a second surface opposite said first aperture in eachcontainer for draining water therefrom when said containers are liftedfrom said body of water; whereby said containers are at least partiallyfilled with water when said first aperture means is at least partiallyimmersed in said body of water for a predetermined period of time; andwhereby water in said containers is drained therefrom upon rotation ofsaid containers about said rigid bar when said containers are liftedfrom said body of water so that the weight of said exercise device, uponbeing lifted from said body of water, diminishes over time so that anexerciser may safely lower the device.
 2. The exercise device of claim1, wherein said means for eccentrically attaching each container to saidrigid bar includes an eccentric bore formed in each of said containers,each of said eccentric bores having a diameter sufficient to rotatablyreceive said rigid bar therethrough.
 3. The exercise device of claim 2,further comprising travel limiting means for preventing linear travel ofsaid containers along the extent of said rigid bar.
 4. The exercisedevice of claim 3, wherein said travel limiting means includes a pair ofbarrier means positioned on said rigid bar on opposite ends of each ofsaid containers.
 5. The exercise device of claim 4, wherein each barriermeans of said pair of barrier means is a hollow tubular member having aninternal diameter slightly less than an external diameter of said rigidbar so that said hollow tubular members are snugly received by saidrigid bar and frictionally retained thereon in non-slip relationthereto.
 6. The exercise device of claim 3, wherein said travel limitingmeans includes an inboard barrier means and an outboard barrier means,said outboard barrier means being a hollow tubular member having aninternal diameter slightly less than an external diameter of said rigidbar so that said hollow tubular member is snugly received by said rigidbar and frictionally retained thereon in non-slip relation thereto, andwherein said inboard barrier means is formed by an annular shoulderformed in said rigid bar, said annular shoulder defined by an auxiliaryrigid bar of reduced diameter relative to a diameter of said rigid bar,said rigid bar being hollow and said auxiliary rigid bar having adiameter slightly greater than an internal diameter of said hollow rigidbar so that said auxiliary rigid bar is snugly received therein innon-slip relation thereto, said through aperture formed in saidcontainer having a diameter slightly greater than an external diameterof said auxiliary rigid bar so that said container is rotatably mountedwith respect to said auxiliary rigid bar.
 7. The exercise device ofclaim 1, wherein said means for eccentrically attaching each containerto said rigid bar includes a plurality of clamps spaced along an extentof said rigid bar, each of said containers depending from said clamps.8. The exercise device of claim 1, further comprising adjusting meansfor adjusting a flow rate of water draining from said second aperturemeans.
 9. The exercise device of claim 8, wherein said adjusting meansincludes a plug member having a throughbore formed therein, said plugmember having an external diameter slightly greater than an internaldiameter of said second aperture means so that said plug member isfrictionally engaged by said second aperture means and said throughborebeing sized to allow a reduced rate of flow of water draining from saidcontainer relative to a rate of flow draining from said containerthrough said second aperture means.
 10. The exercise device of claim 8,wherein said adjusting means includes an adjustable valve means so thata drainage flow rate from said second aperture means can be adjustedfrom fully closed to fully open so that an exerciser may select anydesired drainage flow rate.
 11. The exercise device of claim 10, whereinsaid adjustable valve means is a spigot.
 12. The exercise device ofclaim 11, wherein said adjustable valve means is a sliding gate valve.13. The exercise device of claim 1, wherein said containers areopen-topped buckets so that said first aperture means is provided in theform of said open top of said open-topped buckets.